Animal Agriculture

Animal Agriculture

Soybeans feed a lot of hungry mouths, and beaks. Animal agriculture is the number one domestic customer for U.S. soybeans. In fact, domestic livestock and poultry consume over 28 million tons of soybean meal each year. That’s not chicken feed!

Soybean meal consumption in North Dakota has grown in the past decade as livestock production increases in the state. Animals eat about 97,000 tons of soybean meal each year in North Dakota. Not only is that good news for the state’s soybean farmers, it’s a big deal for economy. Animal agriculture contributes nearly $3 billion in economic impact to North Dakota.

The North Dakota Soybean Council recognizes the importance of animal agriculture and invests checkoff dollars into research, education and promotion efforts to help support animal agriculture. This includes efforts to improve the nutritional value of U.S. soybean meal to meet the needs of livestock and poultry.